The First Two Music Videos I Saw

The other say when talking about Michael Jackson’s Thriller video, I tried to think of the first music video I’d ever seen. My parents would tape episodes of Alf and The Hogan Family and these two videos were on those tapes.

Tears For Fears – Shout

Robert Palmer – Addicted to Love

Do you remember your first music video?

A Slightly Older Billy Bragg – Tank Park Salute

It’s almost one year since my last Billy Bragg post.What I really wanted to find was a video for Little Time Bomb, but I’m glad I found this video for Tank Park Salute instead.

Kiss me goodnight and say my prayers
Leave the light on at the top of the stairs
Tell me the names of the stars up in the sky
A tree taps on the window pane
That feeling smothers me again
Daddy is it true that we all have to die

At the top of the stairs
Is darkness

I closed my eyes and when I looked
Your name was in the memorial book
and what had become of all the things we planned
I accepted the commiserations
Of all your friends and your relations
But there’s some things I still don’t understand

You were so tall
How could you fall?

Some photographs of a summer’s day
A little boy’s lifetime away
Is all I’ve left of everything we’ve done
Like a pale moon in a sunny sky
Death gazes down as I pass by
To remind me that I’m but my father’s son

I offer up to you
This tribute
I offer up to you
This tank park salute

News Sites’ Homepage Designs Covering Michael Jackson Death

Check out the Flickr set for Michael Jackson’s death

Previously, I collected a series of homepage designs covering Obama’s win. This time around, when I heard Michael Jackson was on the verge of death by cardiac arrest, I started taking some screenshots of major news outlets’ websites. The coverage area on each layout was not as vast it had been for Obama, and I was expecting more space dedicated to the story.

ABC News

CNN

MTV

See more like Reuters, New York Times, LA Times, etc on Flickr

Michael Jackson

I remember the moment in 2005. It was lunchtime and I jumped up from my desk at work, put my phone on pause, and headed to the break room where there was a small TV. As I made it over, my supervisor walked out disgusted, and at that moment I knew. Michael Jackson was found innocent by the jury.

I went back to my desk, unpaused my phone, and fielded 411 calls. Relieved. I loved Michael Jackson.

Ten years earlier, I heard my sister cry while listening to “You Are Not Alone“. It was the first time I saw the effects of one person’s existence towards someone else. And Michael’s voice helped bring that feeling out. It’s to this day one of my favorite songs.

Michael Jackson’s music brings me back to simpler times. His message gives me hope. His smile made me feel like there were good people in this world.

I’m really going to miss Michael Jackson.

The Carpet Patrol discography

According to their last.fm page (which I’ve shortened and edited here), The Carpet Patrol were:

a pop-punk band from North Reading, MA (1995 – 2001). Richard Chen played guitar and sang. Jeff Buchwald played drums. Matt Classic played guitar and sang while Alan Yang sang and played bass. All members of the band except for Buchwald went on to form Model Kit. Their songs were often times comical and the content ranged from Transformers to computers.

They played with such bands as Spiff 45, Go48, Fake I.D, The Bends, Weston, The Ducky Boys, Lanemeyer, 5 Bucks!, Header, Junction 18 and many others.

Yeah so this band had the funnest songs – Scrabble Song, Burger Prince, Like Will, Ally McBeal. I’m thinking of buying a cheap squier and starting a cover band to relive my mediocre youth. The album art you see below for the Anthology and We’re Sorry Sessions is not official – there was never any official art. I used some pop art photos I had which are probably copyright protected. 

You’re on your own for track order and song tagging. You can check out Matt Classic‘s page for help on that.

Anthology

1. Ally McBeal
2. Arthur ver1
3. Be All You Can Be
4. Chalkboard
5. Corporate America v1
6. Corporate America v2
7. Don’t know what I want
8. Doug/Be all you can be
9. Final Fantasy 7
10. For you
11. Go Fight Win
12. Going Gone
13. Grammatical Law
14. Hey I’m a Poser
15. I can’t think v1
16. I can’t think v2
17. I praise your hypocrisy
18. It’s Ok v1
19. Jeopardy!
20. Joe Cool
21. Kenmore Sq. v1
22. Let’s have a Party
23. Like Will v1
24. Me & My IIe v1
25. Merriam-Webster
26. Mr. President
27. My Mailman v1
28. My Mailman v2
29. Our Friend Tim v1
30. Peer Leader
31. Prescriptivisim
32. Scrabble Song v1
33. Scrabble Song v2
34. Stay Away From Me
35. The Burger Prince v1
36. The Chinese Song v1
37. Transform and Roll Out
38. What Went Wrong?
39. Working Class Punk Rocker Girl v1

We’re Sorry Session

1. A Night To Forget
2. Arthur
3. Awkward Historian
4. The Burger Prince
5. It’s Ok
6. Kenmore Square
7. Like Will
8. Me & My IIe
9. Our Friend Tim
10. The Chinese Song
11. The Emo Song
12. We’re Sorry
13. California
14. Working Class Punk Rocker Girl

Long Ago and Far Away (split w/ Fake I.D. and Go48)

1. Fine Art of Deception
2. Make Me Smile
3. Eyes Unclouded
4. Among the Stars
5. You Look Familiar
6. Unsatisfactory Purchase